This is one of those little home-brewing and kitchen adventures that I have wanted to do for a long time, and so I eventually got around to it.

There are plenty of recipes available on the internet for Dandelion and Burdock, all of them using other ingredients that overcome and smoother the taste of the Dandelions and the Burdock. With the exception of using half of a Star Anise right at the beginning of making the starter, all of the flavour comes from the Dandelion and the Burdock.

You may recall the difficulties that I had finding wild growing Burdock here in Norfolk; Everytime Lois & I went for a walk, cycle ride or just out and about Fruit and Berry picking we searched high and low but to no avail. However, when we went to Stiffkey in search of Marsh Samphire, Lo and behold I parked right next to a mature and gone to seed Burdock plant. Finding the Dandelions on the other hand presented no problem.

The Burdock plant in Stiffkey car park:

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A close up of the root that I managed to dig out of the ground with my hands:

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Due to my inability to find a Burdock plant up until this time, I had also cheated and purchased 100g of dried Burdock root, and 100g of Dried Dandelion root from Purple Sage Botanicals: http://www.purplesage.org.uk/

My efforts of brewing this wonderful pop and small beer include equal amount of roots that I have harvested and dried by me, and the purchased commercially avaible ones from Purple Sage Botanicals.

Ingredients:

To make 5 litres

Dried Dandelion root

Dried Burdock Root

750 g White Granulated Sugar

4 dessert spoons of Lemon or Lime Juice

A Pinch of Bread Making Yeast

Lots of Boiling Water.

Method:

I have chosen to go for the ever lasting starter method, as I use in Home-made Ginger Beer and Sourdough. I think that it is much more fun and rewarding to nurture a yeast, as it imparts a more natural and rounded flavour to the finished beverage. The chemical composition actually changes as the Yeast mutates to being able to grow and flourish in a solution of the base ingredients.

Day 1

Add 250 ml of previously boiled and cooled water to a large jar.

Crush half of a Star Anise and add it to the water (note: this is the only time that you will add Star Anise to the mix).

Grate approx. 1 teaspoon of Burdock root and 1 teaspoon of Dandelion root and add this to the water. Stir in 2 teaspoons of Sugar and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Add a small pinch of yeast to the surface of the liquid, and allow to stand over night before sealing the jar with it's lid.

Day 2.

Grate a little Dandelion, and a little Burdock root and add to the jar, add 1 teaspoon of Sugar and stir well. Seal the jar.

Day 3.

Grate a little Dandelion, and a little Burdock root and add to the jar, add 1 teaspoon of Sugar and stir well. Seal the jar.

Day 4.

Grate a little Dandelion, and a little Burdock root and add to the jar, add 1 teaspoon of Sugar and stir well. Seal the jar.

Day 5.

Grate a little Dandelion, and a little Burdock root and add to the jar, add 1 teaspoon of Sugar and stir well. Seal the jar.

Day 6.

Grate a little Dandelion, and a little Burdock root and add to the jar, add 1 teaspoon of Sugar and stir well. Seal the jar.

Day 7.

This is when you can start making the Dandelion & Burdock Pop/Beer.

Grate 25 grams of Dandelion root, and 25 grams of Burdock root: if you are using commercially purchased Dandelion and Burdock, bruise the pieces with a Mortar & Pestle. Add these to a saucepan containing 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, Dissolve 750g of White granulated Sugar with 4 litres of water in a bucket. Stir well to ensure that all of the sugar is dissolved.

Add the contents of the saucepan to the bucket: Do not strain at this point.

Cover with some muslin and allow the mixture to cool to about 40* centigrade, or about body temperature. Add 4 dessert spoons of either Lemon or Lime juice and stir well. Sieve the contents of your jar of starter mix into the bucket and stir well.

You may retain half of the starter as you would with everlasting Ginger beer and continue making D&B as outlined above one week later. If you do retain half of the starter to continue, this is the time to add another half of a Star Anise.

Allow the contents of the bucket to stand for betweeen 30 and 60 minutes, and then strain and bottle into sterlised empty Plastic pop bottles.

Allow to stand in a dark cupboard for 1 week and then you may begin to enjoy your home-made Dandelion & Burdock pop (negligible Alcohol %ABV). If you continue to allow the mixture to ferment in the bottles, after 2-3 weeks it will become a very potent natural beer. The longer you leave it, the stronger it becomes, and the dryer the taste is. So far I have brewed some out to 6%, and it is lovely stuff.

Beware! This is one of those natural brewing mixtures that will carbonate with naturally occoring Carbon Dioxide from the yeast. This is what makes it a fizzy drink, so it may spray upon opening; You have been warned!